The Best Skin Care Ingredients You Need To Be Using Right Now, According To An Expert

Beauty reporters spend a lot of time educating the public on ingredients—the best ones to use for specific skin concerns, what to avoid, the nonnegotiables, what's overhyped, and so on. We do that because it's important to understand what you're putting on your skin so you can better care for it in the long run. Knowledge is power!

And that's exactly the sort of ethos scientist Daniel Isaacs, chief product officer and co-founder of Medik8, had when he founded the UK-based skin care brand with his brother 15 years ago. 

"We believe that anyone can have great skin—regardless of your age, skin tone, or type—if you focus on the things that really work," he says. "And there are some ingredients out there that visibly improve the health and condition of people's skin." 

As Issacs shares in this episode of mindbodygreen's beauty podcast, Clean Beauty School, if you rely on time-tested, researched-back, and proven-safe ingredients, then you can see significant results. 

Results like "Firming the skin, boosting collagen, evening the tone, encouraging cell turnover so that you're reducing congestion, and keeping the skin clear from imperfections," he says. "So an amazing breadth of results—and the science shows this." 

Vitamin C can be one of the most beneficial skin care ingredients to add to your routine, as research shows it's a powerful antioxidant1 that can help the skin fight off free radicals and plays a vital role in the collagen synthesis process2. As a result, it has a host of visible benefits such as firming, wrinkle-smoothing, brightening, and more. 

Isaacs notes it's one of the most impactful ingredients you can add to your routine. 

But here's the thing: You only get those benefits if you're using a stable, effective form of vitamin C. And that’s not a guarantee you get with just any serum picked off the shelf.

Because of poor formulations or the inherent instability of vitamin C, many products start to degrade before you even put them on your face, notes Isaacs. "[You'll see things like] changes of color, or it will start to smell strange. That's when you know it's losing potency," he says. 

But that's not the only issue: "The other issue with vitamin C is just around low performance. Maybe the vitamin C hasn't been incorporated at the right level," he explains. "Or there are many different derivatives of vitamin C, and some are much better than others. So a lot of brands are still using derivatives that aren't that effective." 

And finally, perhaps the overall formula is influencing the final results: "You may have something that sounds good, but actually, how does the whole formula work together to deliver the results from the vitamin C?" he says. 

It's a lot to keep in mind when looking for a formula. But Isaacs notes you can look for two vitamin C derivatives in particular, which can help guide you to effective formulas: Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate (THDC) and Ethyl ascorbic acid (EAA).

"THDC is a really good one because it's really stable and it converts to the pure form of ascorbic acid pretty well," he says about the form of vitamin C used in Medik8 C-Tetra. "But most importantly, with that derivative, it penetrates into the deeper layers. So it can have deeper results." 

Just about everyone and their little sister is using some kind of retinol product these days. The derm's gold standard of ingredients has become the mainstay standard too. 

The ingredient has been shown3 to increase cell turnover, thicken the dermal layer, improve collagen production, reduce acne, ease sebum production, and more. It's used by folks of all ages—from teens struggling with acne to women fighting fine lines to 20-somethings looking to stave off premature aging. 

But for the specific type of retinol product that can really take results to the next level, go for retinaldehyde (retinal, with an "a"). "I believe it is the number one in terms of skin rejuvenation in the industry," he says of the form Medik8 uses in their cult-favorite line Crystal Retinal. "It's the best retinoid."

Why? It's actually the closest form to the active vitamin A (retinoic acid) possible—one step closer to the industry standard retinol. That means it requires fewer conversions when it enters the skin and, therefore, doesn't lose any potency. As a result, retinal is much faster acting than retinol4 and doesn't have as much irritation. 

However, retinal and retinol (in any form) can be unstable if not formulated correctly. And unlike vitamin C, "instability is a lot more hidden when it comes to retinol-type formulations," he says.

"If it's not stable, then by the time you actually use it, who knows what's left? The bottle could say 0.5%, but unless it's stable, there's no guarantee," he says. "It will start to degrade from there."